Jac's roundup of pop culture news and Internet findings

Seeing locals on reality TV
combines two of my favorite things: Cincinnati and trashy television. So I was
elated to hear that A&E’s Neighbors
with Benefits – a new unscripted series following swingers — is set just
north in Warren County. The show will document married couples in a suburban
neighborhood that have open, extra-marital relationships. The show hasn’t even
aired yet (it premieres Sunday, March 22), but it already has reality red
flags, as with many A&E shows filmed in Cincinnati (remember Rowhouse Showdown?).
While at least one couple on the show is confirmed local,
some residents of the Thorton Grove neighborhood near Maineville question the
legitimacy of the other couples and shooting location.
There’s speculation that a rental home outside Thorton Grove was used to shoot
the series after residents complained about associating the neighborhood with a
swinger capital. But honestly, if the worst thing about your neighborhood is
that people are having sex with each other, isn’t that something to brag about?
Marilyn Manson is all about
his pops these days. He took an unexpected but awesome role on Sons of Anarchy’s final season, saying
he took the role because he watched the show with his father, and now the two are in Paper Magazine.Cute!New show news:
True Detective Season Two is still without a premiere date, but stars Vince Vaughn,
Colin Farrell, Taylor Kitsch and Rachel McAdams have been at work shooting the
next installment. Go here
to read more about the season’s storyline — public transportation + murder + conspiracy
— the characters and directors — various directors will take over for Season
One’s Emmy winner Cary Fukanaga — and see photos from set. (Spoiler Alert only if you
want to go in to the show with zero background info on the story.)
The ladies of Litchfield
will be back for the binging when Orange Is
the New Black Season Three premieres June 12.
American Horror Story’s fifth season will apparently take a look at the
horrid world of hospitality because Lady Gaga revealed the next setting will be
a hotel. Gaga will reportedly star. AHS:
Hotel premieres in October and here’s some totally unconfirmed juice goose (translation:
juicy gossip)
posted on the AHS Reddit thread. I don’t know about Gaga taking the lead on this
— let alone starring in three seasons amidst her very successful music career —
but the general storyline sounds good to me! And the present-day setting with
flashbacks to different eras is in line with the show’s pattern (so far, odd
seasons have been set in modern day — Murder House, Coven — while even seasons
were period pieces — Asylum, Freak Show). I love the idea of peeking in on
various scandalous guests over the years — so many opportunities for killer
guest-stars!
Hannibal returns June 4 and
the first image is out. I’m getting Dr. Lecter-meets-SAMCRO vibes and I'm loving it.
Speaking of new shows,
check out this week’s TV column for a spring television preview. Winter might
finally be gone, Game of Thrones is coming!Zoolander 2 is officially happening, as evidenced by Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson
stomping the Valentino runway as Derek and Hansel during Paris Fashion Week.
Nothing says haute couture quite like Ben Stiller’s
old ass on a runway. And if you really want to roll your eyes to the
back of your skull and never to see the light of day again, get this: I looked on
IMDB for evidence that this sequel is really happening (yes, I fact-check the
gossip rags I read; yes, IMDB is a reputable fact-checking source) and found
that Stiller is also attached to Dodgeball
2 (predictable) and Space Jam 2
(da fuh?).
Ryan Gosling must be
craving some attention since that baby of his stole the spotlight, because
he shared some cute throwback dance videos that have everyone saying, “Hey girl,” again.
Ryan, if you think we
haven’t already seen all your talent show videos and Mickey Mouse Club clips,
you are seriously underestimating the stalkiness of your fans. Speaking of, why
is there no term for Gosling fans, a la Cumberbitches? Can I bring up “juice
goose” twice in one post?
But I digress. Here’s the
little man at work:
Vince Gilligan would like
everyone to stop throwing pizzas on Walter White’s house, please. The Breaking Bad creator says fans flock to
the real house used for exterior shots in the show, and the current owners are
cool with that, except when people creep up at night and recreate the famous pizza
scene.The Dress that captivated
the Internet is dead and buried and I’m not trying to resurrect it anytime
soon, but if you are curious about the science behind why one dress looks
completely different to different people, read here. And see how good you are at
differentiating colors here — you may have a fourth cone, which means you probably saw the blue and black dress for
what is was: a goddamned blue and black dress.
And here’s Earl Sinclair
singing “Hypnotize” because it’s Thursday and we all need this.
(Thanks, Amberly)

The news transpiring this morning is all across the board. The reshaping of Cincinnati’s downtown continues, and one of the biggest signs of more impending changes is the increase in housing in the city’s urban core. More people are interested in living in or near downtown, and developers are happy to oblige. Construction is ongoing for nearly 1,000 new apartments and condos in and around downtown, The Business Courier reports in a rundown of new construction today. The biggest projects include phase two of The Banks, which will have 305 new apartments, the so-called 580 building on Walnut Street, which is being converted from office space to 179 luxury apartments, and between 180 and 225 new apartments going in above Macy’s downtown location. There are also a number of projects happening in Over-the-Rhine, including a $26 million development in the Pendleton area that will also include 40,000 feet of retail space.• All that change isn’t going unnoticed. It seems like I’m talking about Cincinnati making it onto some top 10 list or national publication at least a couple times a week here at the morning news, and here’s another one: Fortune magazine included Cincinnati in a list of top five cities with up-and-coming downtown areas. The article highlights Over-the-Rhine, saying, “while it’s still a work in progress, it’s already been transformed into one of Cincinnati’s most vibrant communities.” Oh, to work at a national magazine, parachute into a city for a couple days and reduce complex, decades-old dynamics into pithy, erudite observations. But I digress. • Tea partiers won a victory of sorts in U.S. District Court yesterday when Judge Susan Dlott ruled a group of the political activists could pursue suits against Internal Revenue Service employees in Cincinnati. The activists’ claims, first filed last year, state that IRS officials unfairly flagged their applications for nonprofit status based on the fact the groups have names indicating they are conservative or have “tea party” in the name. Nonprofits can’t be primarily political, and in assessing a groups’ application, the IRS must determine the level of political involvement in which a group engages. While the IRS admits it did flag tea party groups, it also did so for some liberal groups, including Occupy-affiliated activists. Still, the conservative groups argue that the IRS acted in a discriminatory way by delaying or denying their applications. The judge’s ruling clears the way for the groups’ lawsuits to go forward.• There’s a new senate candidate in Kentucky joining the Mitch McConnell/Alison Lundergan-Grimes fray, and he wants you to know he’s full of crap. “Honest” Gil Fulbright is a fake candidate created by represent.us, a group advocating to get big-money influence out of politics. Fulbright, who is played by an actor from New York, is pretty honest about his intentions. “People of Kentucky, you deserve complete honesty, so here it is,” he says in a video. “I don't care about you. Unless you are a donor, a lobbyist who can write a big fat check, the result that you get from voting for me is negligible."The parody is a way for the group to drive home its point that most politicians in Congress are beholden to the big-money donors who help them get elected. The group says satire is a more effective way to reach people than traditional news. Probably true.Kentucky’s senate race, where Democrat Lundergan-Grimes is working to unseat incumbent and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, is expected to be the most expensive in history. Candidates and outside groups are on track to spend $100 million to convince voters they’re the better choice. A good deal of that money comes from big-money donors and PACs. • Finally, while we’re talking about Kentucky, I need to share this story with you. The morning news absolutely does not condone law breaking, but if you’re going to do it, you might take a tip from this criminal genius. A Corbin, Kentucky man was arrested Tuesday for shoplifting. When taken to the station, he asked to make his requisite one phone call. Did he use that call to get in touch with a family member, friend or significant other who could bail him out? No, no. He used his only phone call to order five pizzas in the name of the officer who arrested him. The pizzas were then delivered to the police station, to the confusion of officers. This was either an A-plus troll move or an act of kindness. Something tells me this guy knew it was going to be a long night for everyone involved and just wanted to get the party started right. The authorities were not amused, however, and are now adding charges of impersonating an officer to his shoplifting counts.

Popular pizza chain finds new East Side home

Atlanta-based pizza chain Mellow Mushroom Pizza Bakers has opened in Hyde Park. Founded in 1974, each Mellow Mushroom is locally owned and operated with a focus on fresh, stone-baked pizza; an eclectic, artistic environment; and family-friendly atmosphere.“We are thrilled to bring the unique Mellow Mushroom brand to the Hyde Park community," says owner Kevin Molony in a recent press release. "From the eclectic young professional environment to the family friendly community, this Mellow Mushroom has something for everyone."The menu features pizza, hoagies, salads, calzones and appetizers with options for vegetarians, vegans, kids and those who are gluten-free. The design of the Hyde Park location centers on all things Cincinnati, from a mural representing the riverfront's past, present and future plus a bridge design introducing elements of the suspension bridge. They also have six television sets for sports.See the full menu here.The restaurant is open 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Sunday-Thursday; 11 a.m.-midnight Friday-Saturday. 3804 Paxton Ave., Hyde Park, mellowmushroom.com/store/hyde-park or on Facebook.

While many of the items taste-tested in this column each month are “weird” or “unusual” ethnic foods — uncommon perhaps in our general culture but the norm for many others — we’ve also examined products that showcase all-American gluttony at its finest, from KFC’s brazenly unhealthy Double Down to the daffy concoctions made for hard-to-please kids and lazy parents like the “Carnival Corn Dog” Kids Cuisine frozen dinners.

Most people who have seen even just a preview for an episode of Two and a Half Men have an opinion on why some people think it’s funny to watch Charlie Sheen’s character talking about women’s boobs in front of a teenager (because they’re stupid). That’s why it was ironic today to learn that the show has been canceled due to Sheen’s increasingly crazy real life.

Concern is quickly growing over the New Year's Eve deaths of red-winged blackbirds, grackles and starlings that fell out of the skies over Beebe, Ark., with the most likely explanations involving biblical end times, secret government weapons testing and aliens mistakenly thinking birds are in charge of Earth because they can fly.

Doing New York-style pizza right

A slice of authentic New York pizza is hard to come by in a city like Cincinnati. Surely there is no lack of pizzerias that claim to offer a “New York style” pizza, but there is rarely agreement as to which place is the real deal. If you’ve had a true New York slice, you won’t argue when we say that Noce’s Pizzeria is Cincinnati’s latest addition that does offer the real deal.

Where Chicago meets Cincinnati, in pizza form

I’ve whined in the past about Cincinnati’s mediocre pizza offerings. Sure, there are some exceptions — Dewey’s springs to mind — but for the most part, nothing here wows me. So, would Chi-nnati, a new Cincinnati-Chicago hybrid, become my new pizza Mecca?

I always forget that East Coast-style culture is a mere five-hour drive from here because we have Chicago. Geography is a technicality. In Chicago, you get your “coast” (waves high enough to surf), your fashion (more gladiator sandals than you’d find in Pat Benatar’s garage) and, most importantly, your food (Chicago’s pizza will always win out over New York’s).